Alicia Keys reveals how growing up in music influenced her makeup free era

Alicia Keys reveals why she decided to go makeup free in the past.

Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys has admitted growing up in the music industry inspired her decision to go makeup free.

The 'Girl On Fire' hitmaker previously went through a period of not wearing makeup as she rebelled against beauty standards, and she explained how she started to become aware of how she "wanted to feel".

She told The Cut: "I started out in the music world when I was 17 years old and you are told that you put on this and you wear this, you get yourself together and you get ready to perform.

"You get to transform and be in a place where you can really identify how you want to express yourself.

"All of that is a beautiful part of growing and a beautiful part of being a woman is that you get to express yourself."

The realisation helped Alicia accept that she didn't need all the makeup and fancy clothes to feel "beautiful".

She added: "It opened my eyes to how I didn’t feel comfortable or beautiful if I didn’t have my armour on, and if I didn’t have all my face and hair and pretty things and nice clothes on that somehow I was less than beautiful or just less than.

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"I realised, like, Whoa, what’s underneath all that?' It allowed me to have a conversation with myself about how I wanted to feel and even what I wanted to let go of."

She clariied that she doesn't think "makeup was the armour" so much as everything "put together".

She continued: "I've been able to just recognise that we are perfect as we are and that doesn't mean you don't have days that you want to be different ways.

"Some days I'm totally in my sweats, I don't care. I'm putting my sneakers on. It's perfect. I love it, I feel great.

"Some days I'm like, 'You know what? This is a day I'm ready to just turn up in every way.' And Some days you're somewhere in the middle and it's cool."